Tag: Pat Narduzzi

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi says, ‘You gotta beat Clemson’ to get to the ACC Championship

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi had this to say about Clemson.

The 2023 ACC Football Kickoff is off to a hot start after day one. Wednesday’s day two brings different ACC teams to the media to discuss their team, the Conference, and the season ahead of them. 

The 2023 season in the ACC will look much different than any other before, with the Conference moving away from divisions and doing its first season with the 3-5-5 format. Rather than the divisional winners making the ACC Championship, it will now be the top two teams based on winning percentage to make the game. 

A major shift, Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi and his program know a bit about what it takes to make the ACC Championship, and even with the lack of divisions, you still need to get through Clemson.

“I think back to in ’21 when you go to the championship game and beat Wake Forest, you beat the reigning champion in Clemson at home and you took care of business,” Narduzzi said. “Whether you’re in the Atlantic or whether you’re in the Coastal division, pretty much you gotta beat Clemson to get there, correct? To me, we did that and won the championship. So to me, that makes it even sweeter.”

Narduzzi clearly respects the Tigers, who  won the conference title in seven of the last eight seasons. The lone winner of the last eight that wasn’t Clemson was Narduzzi and the Panthers.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Deion Sanders responds to Pat Narduzzi’s criticism

Coach Prime responded in a memorable way to Pat Narduzzi’s recent criticism

What Deion Sanders is doing with the Colorado Buffaloes has essentially never been seen before. If the results live up to the hype, there might be a statue built for him outside of Folsom Field.

However, the wild, topsy-turvy state of the transfer portal and this current era of recruiting hasn’t been as exciting for other programs, and Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi recently issued some critical comments about what Sanders is doing with the portal.

Now, Coach Prime has responded in an epic way (h/t Steve Gardner of USA TODAY Sports).

Sanders dismissed recent criticism from Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi by telling 247Sports in an interview this week, “I don’t know who he is; if he walked in here right now I wouldn’t know him.”

That’s some massive clap back toward Narduzzi. Of course, he expressed frustration last year when he saw Jordan Addison, the 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner, leave for USC in what was a rumored NIL move. Sanders made sure to bring that up, too, as a reason why Narduzzi was upset.

“He is mad at the situation in football now that allowed his best player to leave a year ago,” Sanders said. “He’s not mad at me, he’s using me to shoot bullets at another coach who he has an issue with.”

There isn’t anything wrong with what Coach Prime is doing, and the current state of the game allows for things just like this. Nonetheless, Narduzzi isn’t happy, and these latest comments by Sanders might bring another response.

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=26]

Former Penn State punter Blake Gillikin rips Pat Narduzzi’s final coaches ballot

Former Penn State player fired off shots at Pat Narduzzi and Pitt on Twitter

This week saw the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll released following Georgia‘s national championship romp over TCU in the College Football Playoff national championship. While the coaches’ individual ballots are kept secret during the course of the regular season, the final ballots are shared publicly to allow fans to see how the coaches stacked teams up from 1 through 25.

We got a chance to dive into James Franklin’s final ballot, and he did have a couple of Big Ten teams ranked while the consensus stuck to just Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. But it is also interesting to see which coaches ranked Penn State the highest and which ranked them the lowest. Perhaps not too surprisingly, Penn State’s lowest ranking in the final coaches poll of the season came from none other than Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi.

Narduzzi’s final ballot had Penn State ranked at no. 9, which is still a solid final ranking for the Nittany Lions. But Narduzzi was the only coach in the poll to vote Penn State that low.

Seven coaches ranked Penn State as low as no. 8 and most coaches voted Penn State at no. 7, with a handful of ballots going as high as no. 6 (including Rutgers‘ Greg Schiano and Maryland’s Mike Locksley).

Conversely, Kansas head coach Lance Leipold had Penn State ranked the highest on his final coaches poll ballot of the year. Leipold ranked Penn State at no. 5 and was the only coach in the poll to do so.

But Narduzzi’s ballot did not go unnoticed by the Penn State community, of course. And it was former Penn State punter [autotag]Blake Gillikin[/autotag], now with the New Orleans Saints, who fired off a bit of a shot at the head coach of the Panthers upon looking over the final ballots.

“Pat Narduzzi is SALTY,” Gilliken said on his Twitter account after looking over the breakdown of the coaches ballots.

But Gilliken didn’t stop there. He followed up with a kind reminder that it has been quite some time since the last time Pitt won a major bowl game.

It’s true. Pitt’s last major bowl victory was the 1982 Sugar Bowl against Georgia to spoil Georgia’s national championship hopes. But since then, Pitt is 0-4 in games that make up today’s New Years Six.

Surely Narduzzi has some explanation for ranking Penn State as low as he did when everyone else in the country had the Nittany Lions at least one spot higher. But we probably have a good guess as to why Narduzzi voted the way he did.

And, of course, Franklin left Pitt off of his ballot entirely.

[vertical-gallery id=28336]

[listicle id=28603]

[lawrence-related id=28729,28727,28723,28711,28709,28707]

Follow Kevin McGuire on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Pat Narduzzi went after USC and Lincoln Riley; now he’s going after Utah on NIL

Pat Narduzzi was furious at Lincoln Riley over the Jordan Addison situation. Now he’s mad at Utah for taking a receiver away from Pitt. Someone seems mad. Really mad.

Pat Narduzzi is not having a very Merry Christmas.

Narduzzi and his Pittsburgh Panthers are preparing to play the UCLA Bruins in the Sun Bowl, but Narduzzi is angry at Pac-12 schools other than UCLA. We’ll explain below.

Pitt didn’t have a terrible season in 2022, but the Panthers were certainly much worse than they were in 2021, when they won the ACC championship and reached a New Year’s Six bowl game. Kedon Slovis did not thrive in Pitt’s offense; he wanted out, and has made his decision to enter the transfer portal yet again.

The 2022 season didn’t go as coach Pat Narduzzi intended. Crucially, the ACC moves to a division-less format in 2023. Pitt will not be able to win the ACC Coastal and get to the ACC Championship Game. It will have to finish in the top two of the conference standings to get there. With Florida State clearly moving up the ladder in the conference behind Clemson, Pitt’s chances of returning to the ACC title game just got worse. Maybe that’s why Narduzzi is mad at another Pac-12 school.

Here are the details, in case you missed them:

Notre Dame appears about to flip big-time quarterback target

Where there’s smoke…

Notre Dame extended a scholarship offer to four-star Hendersonville (Tenn.) Pope John Paull II quarterback [autotag]Kenny Minchey[/autotag] back in September.  The thing is, Minchey committed to Pittsburgh back on April 30.  That commitment is no longer and it appears to be great news for Notre Dame.

Minchey announced Monday that he was officially ending his commitment to Pitt.

I want to thank Coach Narduzzi, Coach Cignetti, Coach Dibiaso, and the rest of the coaching staff at Pitt for believing in me and providing me with an opportunity to play college football.

After prayer and conversations with my family, I have decided to decommit from the University of Pittsburgh.

Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me through this hard decision.

-KM4

Rumors began circulating online recently that Notre Dame was in the running to flip a 2023 quarterback.  It just so happens that Minchey is set to make an official visit to Notre Dame this weekend as the Irish host Boston College on senior day.

On3‘s Recruiting Prediction Machine now gives the Irish over a 96% chance at winning the race for Minchey.  A potential Minchey commitment would give the Irish 24 total pledges in the 2023 recruiting cycle with 21 of those having at least a four-star rating on 247Sports.

Fighting Irish Wire will keep an eye on all of this as things could soon be getting even sweeter for Notre Dame on the recruiting front.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Related:
Instant takeaways as Notre Dame holds on to beat Navy
Twitter reacts to absolutely insane Braden Lenzy touchdown catch
History of Notre Dame’s rivalry with Pitt

[listicle id=44695]

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett hasn’t given the Saints much cause for draft-day regret

It’s early, but Kenny Pickett hasn’t given the Saints much cause for draft-day regret. The Steelers rookie is going into this matchup as the NFL’s most turnover-prone QB:

There were more than a few New Orleans Saints fans hoping their team would select Kenny Pickett in the 2022 NFL draft’s first round, bringing a promising quarterback prospect to a team that could use one. Instead, the Saints passed on Pickett twice, moving up to select wide receiver Chris Olave (who is making a strong case for his Rookie of the Year candidacy) at No. 11, then taking left tackle Trevor Penning (who just took a big step towards returning from the injured reserve list) at No. 19. Pickett wound up going to the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 20.

And there was plenty of smoke surrounding the situation. Pickett met with New Orleans ahead of the 2022 draft, and Saints head coach Dennis Allen recently said that he was their top-graded quarterback in the rookie class. Pickett’s college coach Pat Narduzzi even thought the Saints had selected Pickett on the night of the draft, when New Orleans was on the clock, and broke the bad news to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on a phone call.

But Pickett hasn’t exactly lit the NFL world on fire in his pro debut. He took the reins from Mitch Trubisky three and a half games into the season, and currently leads the league with an interception rate of 4.8%. Pickett has scored just 2 touchdown passes against 8 interceptions, also fumbling 3 times while scoring 2 touchdown runs. He’s been sacked 12 times across 5 games, going 1-3 as a starter. His 3.19 adjusted net yards per pass attempt (which accounts for touchdown passes, interceptions, and sacks) also ranks last in the NFL. Pickett’s longest pass completion has gained 30 yards.

So it’s not like the Saints are kicking themselves for passing on him. To be fair, neither Andy Dalton nor Jameis Winston have been effective this season, but while Pickett may have been an alternative he likely wouldn’t have been a better alternative. We’ll see how his career develops this week and in the future.

For his part, Pickett isn’t thinking about what-might-have-been. When asked this week if he carries a chip on his shoulder from having been passed over by teams like New Orleans, he responded: “No, man, I’m happy as hell to be here. You know, everything works out for a reason. Incredibly proud to be the quarterback of this team and go out there and play on Sunday.”

So it’s good to see the rookie is keeping his chin up amid a rough start to his NFL journey. He’ll be looking to get right against a Saints defense that has only intercepted a pair of passes all season, while New Orleans is hoping to take advantage of that same matchup versus a young turnover-prone quarterback. Something has to give.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=118106]

Pat Narduzzi on Mack Brown: ‘He’s a legend… He’s great for college football.’

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi had some high praise for UNC football head coach Mack Brown this week heading into Saturday’s matchup.

The UNC football program is preparing to extend its lead in the ACC Coastal division on Saturday as it takes on Pitt in Chapel Hill.

Ahead of the matchup, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi spoke on his relationship with Tar Heels’ head coach Mack Brown and had some high praise.

“I just think he’s a legend. I love him. I just think he’s great for college football, period,” Narduzzi told reporters this week. “I’m glad he’s out of the media industry and back into college football because he’s good for college football. He gets it. He’s old school. Just listening to him in coaches’ meetings — hanging out with him in coaches’ meetings, he gets it and he’s old school, and that’s what I love about him. He does it the right way.”

Narduzzi comes into this weekend’s matchup 2-4 all-time as a head coach against North Carolina. Both wins have come in back-to-back seasons.

Pitt, sitting at 4-3 overall and 1-2 in conference, is looking to get back on track after a 24-10 loss to Louisville last weekend. Its lone win in confidence came against Virginia Tech the week prior.

The Tar Heels on the other hand, are 6-1 and ranked No. 21 in the country. Its lone loss was against Notre Dame this season.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Coach who threw Jordan Addison under the bus earlier this year suffers humiliating loss

Pat Narduzzi, who said that the Pittsburgh football program was bigger than Jordan Addison, watched his team lose to Louisville. Addison sure could have helped.

Pat Narduzzi dug a ditch by himself. This is a problem of his own making.

Narduzzi was not responsible for Jordan Addison transferring out of the University of Pittsburgh football program, and seeking out USC. That was Addison’s choice. It was going to happen regardless of what Narduzzi said or did. It was just a fact that with quarterback Kenny Pickett leaving for the NFL and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple leaving for Nebraska, Addison’s choice was obvious. Narduzzi didn’t have anything to do with that. However, Narduzzi still owns this situation for one very obvious reason:

He opened his mouth.

Let’s go inside the details of this disaster in Pittsburgh:

Pitt RB Izzy Abanikanda absolutely dominated Virginia Tech with record-breaking 6 (!!) TDs

Izzy Abanikanda had an absurdly awesome day for Pitt against Virginia Tech.

Izzy Abanikanda had a great day on the football field. Virginia Tech’s defense did not.

Pitt’s junior running back ran over and around the Hokies, scampering up and down the field at Acrisure Stadium in the Steel City on Saturday. When the dust settled, Abanikanda had racked up a bunch of impressive stats and wrote his name in the record books with a Sharpie – putting his name alongside incredible college football running backs such as Ricky Williams and Tony Dorsett.

Abanikanda totaled an eye-popping 320 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 36 carries. That’s an average of 8.9 yards per carry. That’s a spectacular performance regardless of the rest of the game.

Here’s are the marks Abanikanda set, or broke:

  • He’s the first player from a team in a Power 5 conference to rush for more than 300 yards and six touchdowns since Williams did for Texas in 1998.
  • He joined Willis McGahee of Miami as the only players to rush for more than five touchdowns against Virginia Tech.
  • He broke Dorsett’s single-game rushing record for a Pitt running back. Dorsett rushed for 303 yards against Notre Dame in 1975.
  • He set the ACC record for the most rushing touchdowns by a player in a single game. And Abanikanda was just 19 yards shy of the single game ACC record for rushing yards, set by Boston College’s Andre Williams in 2013.
  • It’s the most rushing yards Virginia Tech has given up to a single player in one game – ever. North Carolina’s Gio Bernard held the previous mark, with 262 rushing yards in 2012.

It was, indeed, an absurdly awesome day for Abanikanda. And for Pitt football too – which covered the 14.5-point spread in this game thanks to Abanikanda’s final touchdown run.

It’s worth taking another look at that scamper, and his other scores.

You might remember that Pitt had a prolific Kenny Pickett-powered passing attack last season that led the Panthers to their first ACC title.

In the offseason, prickly Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi chased former offensive coordinator Mark Whipple off to Nebraska and replaced him with Frank Cignetti Jr., formerly of Boston College. It’s clear that this version of Pitt isn’t all that interested in running an offense that relies on passing, as the Panthers are averaging just 167 yards through the air per game this season, compared to 337.4 passing yards per game last season under the direction of Pickett and Whipple.

Good thing is Pitt doesn’t have to worry about passing all that much with a running back like Abanikanda and an offensive line that can pave the way.

Pitt also clearly doesn’t have a problem scoring points either, as it blew past the over-under of 41.5 points set for this game all on its own. The Panthers are 3-2, and have scored 27 points or more in all but one game this season.

[mm-video type=video id=01gemkrnemt4cf9p70e4 playlist_id=none player_id=01evcfkb10bw5a3nky image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gemkrnemt4cf9p70e4/01gemkrnemt4cf9p70e4-a330546207ad81873c7ddb493a834a4d.jpg]

[listicle id=1969511]

[vertical-gallery id=1965072]

Pat Narduzzi recaps Pittsburgh’s loss to Tennessee

Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi recaps the Panthers’ loss to Tennessee.

Tennessee (2-0) defeated No. 14 Pittsburgh (1-1), 34-27 in overtime, Saturday.

Following Tennessee’s win, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi discussed the contest.

“It was a heck of a football game versus a good football team,” Narduzzi said. “I think when it comes down to it, I told our guys, it’s a game of inches, and there were inches all over the place that we needed to get.

“I really thought our players played their tail off. That’s what I told them. You talk about a football game. There was back-and-forths. We made improvements from Week 1 to Week 2, without a question. Win, lose, doesn’t matter. I knew that would be the factor. Our kids played hard. Made some plays and didn’t make some plays.”

More of Narduzzi’s postgame recap, provided by the University of Pittsburgh, is listed below.